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Re : [Byron] life of Byron Moore

My list was only a round-about way of getting to know when the letters to Lady Melbourne were published. I have now confirmation from other sources that

Message 1 of 9
, Aug 5 2:45 AM

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My list was only a round-about way of getting to know when the letters to
Lady Melbourne were published. I have now confirmation from other sources
that indeed they were first published in 1922.
As far as I know, Lady Byron contributed to the rumours about incest without
ever putting down the thing in public writing. H B Stowe wrote what she
knew. The accusation of incest was rejected by Byron scholars, Annabella
herself accused of making it up, which led to the Earl of Lovelace privately
printing Astarte in 1905, in which he used family papers and letters to
substantiate the incest view. His wife published a second, modified edition
in 1921 so that this part of the evidence was now made public. This accounts
for Murray publishing Byron's letters to Lady Melbourne soon after, in 1922.
Of course, a number of people had read them before. The fact that this
evidence surfaced rather late does not invalidate it. It has to be judged on
its merits.
Wilson Knight, in Lord Byron's Marriage the Evidence of asterisks (1957)
takes the view that the real scandal that Annabella was trying to cover up
was Byron's homosexuality.
It is impossible to come to absolute certainty on such matters. The evidence
is incomplete and conflicting. The undeniable fact is that Byron wrote that
he felt tainted by some irredeemable fault. Was it fantasy?
Michel Charlot

> By the time these were published then, even the great minds had decided
> the issue and were looking
> for proof. I think they were bound to find it with their attitude.
> I have never found any one who can say they know of a medieval saying that
> the child of incest looks
> like an ape.
> Nancy
>
> CHARLOT Michel wrote:
>>
>> >From references to Byron's letters to Lady Melbourne made by Charles Du Bos
>> (1929), André Maurois (1930) and Ethel Colburn Mayne (Life of Lady Byron
>> 1929) it appears that these letters were first published by Murray in Lord
>> Byron's Correspondence, 1922. Indeed in Marchand's edition of the
>> correspondence the source of the letters is given as Murray.
>> Michel Charlot
>>
>>
>
>
>
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MelwinKoala@aol.com

In a message dated 8/5/2001 2:46:11 AM Pacific Daylight Time, ... When you marry someone and they insult/treat you real bad it can have a profound effect on

> The undeniable fact is that Byron wrote that
> he felt tainted by some irredeemable fault. Was it fantasy?
>

When you marry someone and they insult/treat you real bad it can have a
profound effect on one's inner life. I don't know if Byron was married long
enough, or truly cared enough, (but one would think that someone of a nature
to be brought to tears by a play is certainly sensitive) to be affected, but
it can't have boosted his self esteem the way his wife and later much of
England treated him. And he does seem to be a guy who needed a bit of self
esteem boosting.

Leslie

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Nancy Mayer

Byron suffered from what he and others called a Calvinistic sense of guilt long before 1813 or his marriage. He was an abused child and abused children have

Message 3 of 9
, Aug 5 2:14 PM

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Byron suffered from what he and others called a Calvinistic sense of guilt long before 1813 or his
marriage.
He was an abused child and abused children have been known to feel that they somehow brought the
abuse on themselves.
Also his father abandoned him and his mother embarrassed him. As a child he felt alienated from the
people around him. In some ways the inheritance of the barony helped fix his identity as it gave him
a place and tied him to a family.
His poetry proves he possessed a sensitivity which was probably not appreciated by him or his
friends and which went against the code of behaviour of the time.
His lameness gave him a different sensitivity. He was very bright and probably had what we call a
photographic memory-- not in any way the usual boy of the aristocracy.
Nancy

Nancy Mayer

Found an interesting Life of Moore at the Library and a copy of his Complete works on ebay. Fancy volume. Also found vol. 8 of the Marchand series.. for the

Message 4 of 9
, Aug 9 8:21 PM

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Found an interesting Life of Moore at the Library and a copy of his Complete works on ebay. Fancy
volume.
Also found vol. 8 of the Marchand series.. for the year 1821 Born for Opposition.
I will buy the Mcgann set when I get rich.
Bought the Mayne Life of Lady Byron.
That book disputes one of the critics -- can't remember the name said he did not think that Lady
Byron lied :Because she had no imagination. (!!!!)
Any one who could imagine she could reform a husband once they were married had plenty of
imagination ;p Actually, Mayne includes many of Anne's self analysis as well as the little
scenarios in which she performs great deeds.
I do not hold these against her for most of us were guilty of the same thing when we were young.
Lady Byron may not have had any empathy, but she did have imagination.
nancy

Anne Ridsdale Mott

... Me too ! Has anyone ever seen it in ebay? Crede Byron Anne Ridsdale Mott Anne@byronmania.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>I do not hold these against her for most of us were guilty of the same

thing when we were young.

So true. I've often thought that her youth and the ' imagination ' and
expectations that go with it didn't help the situtation. At the same time,
however, I wonder if ANY amount of time and experience prior to her marriage
to Byron would have resulted in a significant change in how she handled him.
Her personality [ her need to control ] seemed so excessive that it is hard
to imagine it being tempered with time, whether she had met Byron or not. A
very difficult person to feel for in what I've read so far. [ someone to
avoid, at all costs ].
I cannot remember how old she was when she married Byron, and I am too
lazy to dig through my nightmarish library. Does anyone know off-hand ?

... Augusta shared the guilt though she was not abused. She knew her mother had been disgraced by leaving a marriage and three children to run off with a

Message 7 of 9
, Aug 13 4:16 PM

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> He was an abused child and abused children have been
> known to feel that they somehow brought the
> abuse on themselves.

Augusta shared the guilt though she was not abused. She knew her mother had been disgraced by
leaving a marriage and three children to run off with a ne'er do well. Though her half siblings were
kind to her, she was always conscious of the harm her parents had done them. I think part of her
shyness came from the fact that she knew people still mentioned her mother's crime. It was also
folly to give up being a duchess for the dubious charms of a wastrel.
I think, that like Victoria after her, Augusta made a vow to be good and to avoid scandal. All her
behaviour points towards an avoidance of scandal.

Nancy

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